Live Play Data

Shadowspear

· Legendary Artifact — Equipment · Theros Beyond Death (THB)

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

635

Decks Running

342

Median Cast Turn

Drawn → Played

85%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

85% of drawn Shadowspears are cast before the game ends, and decks that resolve it win 26% of the time across 131 tracked participations on Playgroup Live.

Shadowspear earns its slot. When a player draws this 1-mana Equipment from Theros Beyond Death, it reaches the battlefield 85% of the time, one of the higher draw-to-play rates we track across colorless artifacts. Median first cast lands on turn 5.

The card's appeal is structural. Trample and lifelink on any creature for three mana total (1 to cast, 2 to equip) is efficient at any table. The activated ability, stripping hexproof and indestructible from all opposing permanents until end of turn for just one mana, turns Shadowspear into an answer to problematic permanents that would otherwise require dedicated removal. That flexibility keeps it relevant across a wide range of board states.

In our dataset, Shadowspear appears across 278 distinct players, with the single heaviest contributor accounting for only 3% of tracked instances. That spread is a meaningful signal: this card is not being inflated by one prolific player. It shows up consistently across the commander meta, from combat-focused aggro builds to midrange creature strategies.

At a glance

4% of tracked Commander decks include Shadowspear
85% of drawn copies reach the battlefield before the game ends
T5 median first-cast turn across tracked games
26% win rate in participations where Shadowspear resolved
79% battlefield stickiness once cast
278 distinct players have brought Shadowspear to a tracked game

First-cast turn

n=133

19%

11%

31%

T6-9

13%

T10+

Median 5 P25 2 · P75 7 · max 14

On curve 19% (25 / 133 cast on T1) Cast same turn as drawn 59%

The "good card" funnel

636 brought · 278 players

Brought to game

636

Ever drawn

156

Reached battlefield

133

Still on board at game end

105

85%

Of 636 Shadowspears brought to games, 156 were drawn, 133 of those were cast, and 79% of cast copies remained on the battlefield through end of game.

≥ -6.4pp

Players who cast this card win 26% of the time (n=131) , vs 25% when it never left the library (n=433).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 32% (n=23) — about the same as leaving it in the library. Those players survived long enough to draw it, so the gap above is about the card resolving, not just about surviving.

Observed gap +1.6pp; 95% confidence interval -6.4pp to +9.6pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

172 instances

3.5%

Library

61.0%

Battlefield

21.5%

Graveyard

4.1%

Exile

Most Shadowspears finish on the battlefield, a strong result for an Equipment in a 100-card singleton format where the majority of any card's copies never leave the library across a given game.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

1 Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER 12 decks
2 Sauron, the Dark Lord 11 decks
3 Anti-Venom, Horrifying Healer 10 decks
4 The Sentry, Golden Guardian 8 decks
5 Kotis, the Fangkeeper 7 decks
6 Indoraptor, the Perfect Hybrid 6 decks
7 Thor, God of Thunder 6 decks
8 Tony Stark // The Invincible Iron Man 6 decks
9 Zndrsplt, Eye of Wisdom 6 decks
10 Cloud, Midgar Mercenary 4 decks

The commander list spans Grixis, Naya, mono-white, mono-red, and Sultai builds, reinforcing that Shadowspear's colorless identity lets it slot into nearly any archetype that runs creatures.

Frequently Asked

How often is Shadowspear drawn in a Commander game?

Across 580 tracked multiplayer games where Shadowspear was in the deck, it was drawn 25% of the time. That is a normal rate for a singleton in a 100-card deck. Of the 156 copies that reached a player's hand, 85% were cast before the game ended. That cast rate is notably high for an Equipment, which often requires both drawing and having a creature ready to equip.

What turn does Shadowspear typically get cast?

Median first-cast turn is 5. The mode is turn 1, reflecting copies kept in opening hands and slammed immediately on the mana. The distribution spreads out substantially, with the 75th percentile landing around turn 7, so late draws are common. Shadowspear has a mana value of 1, and the on-curve rate is 19%, which mainly reflects how rarely players draw it in time to cast it on their very first turn rather than any choice to hold it.

Does casting Shadowspear correlate with winning?

In 131 participations where Shadowspear was cast, the win rate is 26%. In 433 participations where it stayed in the library, the win rate is 25%. That is a directional positive gap. Both sample sizes clear 15 observations, so the signal is worth noting, but our overall game count is still modest. Treat it as an early, consistent trend rather than a definitive finding.

Why does Shadowspear show up across so many different commanders?

Shadowspear is colorless, so it fits into any Commander deck regardless of color identity. Its base function, granting trample and lifelink, is universally useful in creature strategies. Its activated ability answers hexproof and indestructible permanents, giving it utility that transcends any specific archetype. In our data it appears across 278 distinct players and a wide spread of commanders, from Grixis control builds to mono-red aggro, which reflects how broadly applicable its text box is.

Is Shadowspear legal in Commander and other formats?

Shadowspear is legal in Commander, Duel Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, Historic, Brawl, Oathbreaker, and Timeless. It is not legal in Standard, Pauper, Pauper Commander, or Premodern. It has never been banned in Commander. In competitive 60-card formats it sees periodic play in creature-based sideboards specifically for the hexproof-and-indestructible stripping ability.

How concentrated is Shadowspear's data across players?

The dataset is well-spread. 278 unique players have brought Shadowspear to at least one tracked game, and the single most active contributor accounts for only 3% of all tracked instances. That low concentration means the stats reflect a genuine community-wide usage pattern rather than the habits of one dedicated pilot.